If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy has a backup
plan
to save one-fifth of the world's daily oil trade: send in the
dolphins.
The threat of Iran closing the strait has reached a fever pitch,
reports today's New York Times, with U.S. officials warning
Iran's supreme leader that such moves would cross a "red line"
provoking a U.S. response. Iran could block the strait with any
assortment of mines, armed speed boats or anti-ship cruise
missiles but according to Michael Connell at the Center for
Naval Analysis, “The immediate issue [for the U.S. military] is
to get the mines.” To solve that problem, the Navy has a
solution that isn't heavily-advertised but has a time-tested
success rate: mine-detecting dolphins.
"We've got dolphins," said retired Adm. Tim Keating in a
Wednesday interview with NPR. Keating commanded the U.S. 5th
Fleet in Bahrain during the run-up to the Iraq war. He sounded
uncomfortable with elaborating on the Navy's use of the lovable
mammals but said in a situation like the standoff in Hormuz,
Navy-trained dolphins would come in handy